This invention relates generally to vehicular sun visors of the type that are commonly used in automobiles, trucks, recreational vehicles and the like; more particularly, it relates to a method and an assembly for restoring original equipment sun visors to a like-new appearance.
Most large vehicles for carrying passengers (including automobiles, buses, trucks, recreational vehicles, etc.) are equipped with sun visors that are mounted above the vehicle's windshield and along that portion of the body header adjacent the upper edge of the windshield. Because all such sun visors (also known as sun shades) are essentially the same in function, if not in length or width, they will be referred to herein as if they were designed for use on automobiles. Such visors are usually connected to the body header near the windshield pillar by use of a mounting bracket and hinge assembly. This arrangement enables rotational movement (about an essentially vertical axis) and translational adjustment of the visor (about a horizontal axis). Other construction features, common to a wide variety of visors, include application of an attractive outer fabric, or other finish material, over a firm core. The core often includes a wooden or plastic foundation and resilient foam or other padding.
Despite their simple mechanical operation and the minimal functional requirements which they are designed to meet, the designs and shapes of sun visors are diverse. In part, this is attributable to the many variations in vehicle body style. For example, it is well known that when the visor is moved into a storage position against the header, the visor shape must conform with a curvature that is specific to a particular header structure. Thus, many visors include flexible flaps or hinged end portions. Examples of such are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,610,680 and 5,031,951. Moreover, visor geometries are somewhat dependent on the sizes and shapes of windshields and adjoining side windows. They may also be "optimized" for a particular vehicle to best accommodate drivers of various heights, in order to protect the maximum possible number of people from sunlight and glare.
Because they are subject to both manual handling and the direct rays of the sun, visors frequently deteriorate in appearance after they have been subjected to a harsh environment for a period of years. In fact, many visors deteriorate to the point that they are very unattractive; and because they are so prominently visible in front of a driver's or passenger's eyes, they often need to be replaced before the rest of the vehicle has deteriorated to the point of justifying a final trip to a dumping yard. With original equipment manufactures (often abbreviated as O.E.M.) often having to redesign sun visors every time that body styles change, the limited market demand for each style, size and color simply has not supported an after-market source for replacement visors. In fact, because visor fabrics are normally coordinated with the upholstery of each vehicle, custom work has nearly always been required in order to replace or restore a worn visor.
As is typical for articles of mass manufacture, original equipment visors are assembled in programmed manufacturing operations that incorporate customized equipment. Such programmed operations routinely provide a high quality, uniform appearance. For example, when the finish material is applied over the visor core, tension is applied in a predetermined manner to prevent pull out and "bagging" of the material during or after assembly. When the final seam is sewn along the visor edge, the stitching that is visible through the relatively thick visor material appears uniform and evenly spaced from each edge. Generally, original equipment manufacturers are quite successful at providing fast, low cost manufacture of visor products; and their products (which are produced with the use of jigs, fixtures, precision cut pieces of material, etc.) can be expected to retain a neat appearance for many months.
In contrast, when visor repair becomes necessary, the process of restoring a visor to a high quality, uniform appearance is typically a very labor-intensive activity in which a trained and experienced individual must try to duplicate the appearance of assembly line products. Indeed, the expense of repairing or restoring most any visor to an appearance similar to that of the original product is primarily attributable to the labor and skill that is involved in trying to duplicate the quality of original manufacture.
Visor restoration frequently calls for replacement of deteriorated foam padding as well as the outer fabric. Although these materials are normally available and of reasonable cost, the added effort to replace the pad may require efforts at duplicating original manufacturing steps but without customized or heavy duty equipment. For example, in a visor having a flexible flap, a relatively hard visor core may need to be replaced or supplemented before any new foam can be added. In order to ensure that the new visor flap will fit the header curvature and operate in a hinge-like manner, careful alignment and stitching along or through a hard core may be required.
For reasons noted above, after-market visor replacements have not been available on a "universal" basis. But there have been limited efforts to develop some special techniques for visor restoration. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,971 to McLaughlin which describes a plastic-like, or rubberized, slip cover for placement over a sun visor. Portions of the cover are heat shrinkable over a stable core; however, such efforts are not directed toward restoring a visor to the appearance that is typical of a carefully upholstered piece of furniture. Nor has there been made available a simple, efficient means for restoring any of the desirable features associated with certain visor components, e.g., a well-padded appearance. Nor has there been available a simple technique for creating a flexible flap which operates in the same controlled manner as the original visor flap. It is therefore desirable to have a time-saving process which provides quality restoration for a wide variety of sun visors.